1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the construction of coke ovens and in particular to a new and useful closed tank car for transporting incandescent coke from the oven chambers to a quenching station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates particularly to the construction of a closed tank car which is capable of transporting coke from each of a plurality of horizontally arranged coke ovens in succession to a receiving bunker. Various designs of such tank cars have been proposed for the emission free pushing, receiving and transportation and wet quenching of the coke in a quenching tower after it is pushed out from horizontal coke ovens to the receiving tank car. The known constructions include a coke box which travels in front of the coke oven battery on a track and is positionable tightly close to a door frame of the oven chambers and is made approximately to the dimensions of a cake to be received. Such devices usually include a bottom door discharge and it is movable toward a stationary coke bunker located in a zone of a track defined alongside the coke oven battery. Such devices usually include a coke quenching chamber connected thereto which includes a chimney and the coke box is provided with a double wall construction with gas evacuation spaces therebetween. In a known construction the inner wall is made of perforated sheets or iron slats with gas evacuation spaces therebetween and the outer walls are massive and include conduits for the quenching liquid. The quenching fumes collect in a space above the coke box and this space is connected to a dust separating device. Liftable and lowerable side plates are provided on the outer walls of the coke box which are lowerable into a seal channel running around the upper opening of a coke bunker for connecting the device to the bunker for discharge. Many other types of devices are known for carrying away the coke cake and some of them include gas tight fittings so that the gases do not escape and they are associated with means for quenching the coke and for separating the gases. At locations where the portions of these cars come into contact with the incandescent coke they are frequently coated with refractory materials such as refractory bricks. This is a disadvantage inasmuch as it makes them heavy in an unfavorable manner. Because of their high weight and clumsiness all of the known devices are inappropriate for the numerous operations in modern heavy duty coking plants with large volume chambers.
The tank cars without a refractory coating have the disadvantage that they are not made of a material which would permanently withstand the stresses of the temperature variations nor are they constructed so that the parts can follow the thermal expansion and contraction without hindering one another to create distortions in tightness between the individual parts and the closures. In such cases, dust and unpurified gases and fumes escape in an uncontrollable manner and cannot be caught and cleaned prior to their passing into the outer atmosphere.